Snow hits the High St with biggest slump for ten years

THE Beast from the East caused the biggest fall in high street retail sales for nearly ten years, figures show.

Year-on-year sales dropped by 10.1 per cent for March as the UK battled icy storms, according to business analysts BDO.

The only time a single month has seen a more severe dip was November 2008, when the UK was also battling snow – and a global financial crisis.

It was also the worst month on record for fashion sales, which were down 12.7 per cent yearon-year, and homewares, down 13.2 per cent. Online sales didn’t escape the freeze either, with growth of 11 per cent the lowest monthly increase since December 2015.

Sophie Michael, BDO’s head of retail and wholesale, said: ‘March was a brutal month for stores. The weather was severe, and shoppers’ reaction showed how paper-thin consumer confidence is currently.

‘People couldn’t get to the shops, but they weren’t spending online either.’